For players who don't want to join PFS....

[Harles]

Okay, so I am pretty new at organized play in general and PFS in specific. Let's say that out of a table of 6 players, I have only 2-3 who actually want to register and advance a PFS. The others might be casual gamers who just dropped in or even repeat attendees who don't want to be troubled to register.

1) Is the table still considered legal with 2 registered players if the others will not register?

2) What do I do with players who refuse to register and keep coming back?

[Nebten]

1)No it is not. PFS games need to be played within the guidelines provided by the Guide of Organized Play along with characters created using such guidelines. You are supposed to report all games played and a legal table is a DM and 3 players.

2)Inform them that you are running a PFS game at this time. It would be no different then saying, we are playing Pathfinder not Warhammer today. If they still do not wish to register, then turn them away.

If this is a reoccurring event, PFS may not be right for this group and run a home game instead.

[Eelario]

Just give them a "reserved" PFS number (download cards with these from the GM resources page), make them write it on their character sheet(s) in case the little card goes missing, and report that number with a -1 for char #1, -2 for #2, etc. when you report sessions. If they choose never to register their characters, it's their loss. They will have no way to rebuild their character if they lose chronicle sheets or whatever and they lose the opportunity to track their progress online.

I have seen this happen a lot with casual or new players. I can still report sessions with no hassle and if they choose to register at some later date, their records will automatically populate for them like magic! If they don't, no harm done and Paizo still gets the data they want about participation.

Of course, they still need to be legal PFS builds regardless. Otherwise, they are not playing by the rules, which is unfair to all players in the society both at large and in your local area.

[Eric Clingenpeel]

What Eelario said. And remember, if they don't have PFS legal characters (or won't use a pregen) then the table won't be legal for credit. Either everyone plays by PFS rules (even if they don't want the chronicle) or its not a legal table.

[ahayford]

Eelario has the right of it. Give them a reserved ID number and write that down on your sheets. Or...if they can't be trusted to bring that card back, just keep it yourself and write their name on it....use the number for your records.

[jjaamm]

Or you could try using some of the adventure paths that are legal. you can play them with unPFS characters and still get credit to apply to a legal character.